As far back as elementary school in Los Angeles, Chelsea Nwonwu knew what she wanted to do with her life.
“I have notes from when I was a kid that asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’” she said. “And I said, ‘I want to be a radiologist.’ I was asked, ‘Where do you see yourself in 20 years?’ I said, ‘Hopefully going to medical school.’”
She’s checked the first item off her list. Chelsea is in her third year at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine.
A jokingly self-described “weird kid,” she enjoyed watching medical shows when she was young. But her tastes didn’t lean toward dramas like “Grey’s Anatomy.” Instead, she was checking out programs about mystery diagnoses, processes that usually involved imaging.
“As a kid, I was amazed that you could see inside the human body without having to cut,” she said. “I thought that was cool. I didn’t know that you could image people for a living.”
While going through her rotations this year, Chelsea has been able to get a first-hand view of diagnostic radiologists at work, advancing her unique childhood TV habits into real life.
“Just going in the reading room and seeing the images … I’m a very visual learner,” she said. “I really like neuroradiology.”
What Chelsea has found is that there are many pieces that must fit to produce a diagnosis. A diagnostic radiologist is one of the people who brings everything together.
“It’s a puzzle,” she said “You’re trying to find answers. I was always interested in puzzles.”
Chelsea has been impressed by the important role that diagnostic radiologists play in diagnosing patient conditions, even if they don’t often interact with them. The reading room can be a gathering place for physicians from across the spectrum.
“(Every physician) is super important, but imaging is just so vital,” she said. “We need it in every specialty. It’s important in medicine, but it’s also often forgotten about. We’re in the back room doing a lot to help with patient care.”
The deaths of two people close to her also played a role in her career decision. Her grandmother and aunt died in Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. Neither lived in an area where medical care was readily available. Her aunt’s nearest medical facility was closed on weekends.
“No one knew that she was having a stroke,” she said.
The tragedies re-enforced in her mind the importance of healthcare equity in general and access to imaging specifically. One of her professional goals will be to help socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
“My life events kept reaffirming why this field is so important and how (access to health care) could have had a very huge impact,” Chelsea said.
Chelsea’s career path has been decided. From TV shows to family ties to earning her bachelor’s degree from UCLA in molecular, cell, and development biology, she’s known for years that she wanted to spend her life helping patients as a radiologist.
“I feel like it was brought to me,” she said. “I’m going strong. I’m committed.”
ABR volunteer Sherwin Chan, MD, and his family enjoy traveling. They especially look forward to visiting state and national parks to take in the unique wildlife and stunning vistas.
It’s a good thing Dr. Chan is comfortable on the move. At the beginning of March, he made a big jump from committee chair to pediatric radiology representative on the ABR Board of Trustees (BOT).
“I’ve really loved my service with the ABR, and it was a great opportunity to continue,” he said.
Dr. Chan, who has been an ABR volunteer since 2016, steps into the role previously filled by Stephen Simoneaux, MD. Dr. Simoneaux recently moved to the ABR Board of Governors. Dr. Chan said discussions with his predecessor inspired him to welcome a BOT spot.
“He’s been a great mentor, and we’ve had conversations about a lot of things besides ABR stuff,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from him. I feel really, really grateful for the opportunity to do this work.”
Dr. Simoneaux sees Dr. Chan as the right volunteer to pick up the role. Numerous challenges and opportunities are coming, including the new Diagnostic Radiology (DR) Oral Certifying Exam in 2028 and 15-month pediatric radiology alternate pathway. Dr. Simoneaux sees Dr. Chan’s experience as chair of the pediatrics section of the DR Qualifying Exam Committee as an excellent proving ground.
“Sherwin did a great job with the organizational challenges of the Core Exam and worked well with all committee members and ABR staff,” he said. “His attention to detail will be essential as we restart the oral certifying exam in diagnostic radiology. His thoughtfulness and affability will ensure that excellent teams of new volunteers will be ready, as well.”
Dr. Chan serves as the vice-chair of research at Children’s Mercy Kansas City and is a professor of radiology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He chose pediatric radiology as a career during his residency rotations at the University of Washington Medical Center. He followed up with a pediatric radiology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“I love working with kids,” Dr. Chan said. “They’re fantastic, and they always put a smile on my face when I go into patient rooms. It’s been a great fit.”
He enjoys patient contact, working with children and their parents. It’s most satisfying when he’s able to improve kids’ conditions and see them lead healthy lives.
“Even kids with tumors, a lot of the times you get rid of the tumor, and you hear stories about them and they’re thriving,” Dr. Chan said. “I enjoy the ability to see great outcomes every day. Being an optimistic person, I love seeing patients get better.”
Dr. Chan and his wife, Katy, have three daughters. The family is planning a road trip through California this summer, starting in San Diego and winding through the northern part of the state. Included in the plans are stops at three national parks: Kings Canyon, Sequioa, and Yosemite.
As a result of these travels, their children are growing up with an appreciation for the outdoors. They’ve already been to several state and national parks, including Canyonlands, Moab, Glacier, the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone.
“Part of why we do it is we feel like they really enjoy it,” he said of their kids. “They’re in awe. They saw some of the few remaining glaciers at Glacier National Park and some mountain sheep and mountain goats. They were just staring at the grizzly bears we saw there.”
When he’s not traveling or working, Dr. Chan has been getting guidance to help him better serve the ABR’s pediatric radiology stakeholders. Along with Dr. Simoneaux, he credits Trustee Kate Maturen, MD, DR Associate Executive Director Mimi Newell, MD, and Executive Director Brent Wagner MD, MBA for their assistance. He has more time to learn and interact with his peers before his first in-person Board meeting in October.
“I’m feeling very supported,” Dr. Chan said. “I sometimes feel that imposter syndrome. ‘Why am I here?’ But I trust the people on the Board. I trust their decisions, so I’m just trying to do the best I can.”
When he was 14 years old, Cameron Brock, MD, was a typical teen. He was active, enjoying a life spent outdoors in his native Utah. There’s no way he could have imagined what was coming.
“All of a sudden, I had a lot of pain in my right leg,” he said. “I wasn’t able to put weight on it, but I was a typical teenager. I was playing football, snowboarding, and things like that. But it was strange that I couldn’t put any weight on the leg.”
Imaging led to the diagnosis of an enchondroma, a bone tumor in the fibula. His pediatrician assured Dr. Brock and his family that there was a 99% chance it wouldn’t turn cancerous but said that he would continue monitoring it.
He spent the next couple of years getting follow-up imaging every six months. But the pain kept returning.
“It would be there for a couple of days and then it would get better, and I’d go back to my normal activities,” Dr. Brock said.
The nagging issue prompted his physician to order a biopsy when Dr. Brock was 16. The result was unexpected: Ewing sarcoma, a malignant bone cancer that primarily affects young people.
“Going through the biopsy, I was an invincible 16-year-old,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just part of the process. They just want to make sure it is what they think it is.’ I was caught off guard, to be honest. My parents and I were in shock.”
The diagnosis started a long road of treatment. Dr. Brock underwent a few months of chemotherapy followed by surgical removal of the tumor and an additional year of chemotherapy treatment.
He received his treatments at Primary Children’s Hospital with intermittent hospitalizations for infections. Still, Dr. Brock said he was fortunate to complete treatment and be deemed cancer-free.
“I was very fortunate that the cancer hadn’t spread,” he said. “It was localized to that bone. I had a great family to give me support. I saw people in the children’s hospital who were in far worse condition without the type of support that I felt from my family. It helped me keep perspective.”
Even with his perspective intact, Dr. Brock had a lot to deal with as a teen cancer patient.
“I had just gotten my driver’s license,” he said. “Two months before, I was on the football team and was about to start the spring track and field season. Then here I was in the hospital throwing up all the time. I didn’t get to go to school. I tried to make it every once in a while, but because my immune system was so poor and I wasn’t feeling good, I didn’t really get to go that much. My whole life was going to doctor appointments, getting imaging, or being at the hospital.”
Dr. Brock made the most of his downtime in the hospital. Curiosity about his condition sparked an interest in medicine.
“I wanted to know what was going on with me,” he said. “I wanted to know more about the medications they were giving me. A few of the residents gave me some of their textbooks. When I was in the hospital for a week or two at a time, we only had two channels on the TV and not a lot of other things to do. I read those medical textbooks, which I didn’t fully understand. But little by little my knowledge grew and I was able to be more of an advocate for myself and participate in my care and be more of an advocate for myself.”
When his treatment was complete, he returned to Bountiful High School in Utah and completed an anatomy and physiology course. His career goals were taking shape.
“Going to my follow-up appointments, I was able to ask more questions of my oncologist and surgeons, and I saw how it benefited my life and relationship I had with my doctors,” Dr. Brock said. “At the end of high school, I was starting to realize that this was what I wanted to do.”
After getting his undergraduate degree in biology at Utah State, he earned a master’s in pharmacology at Georgetown University and completed medical school at Creighton University. After finishing an intern year in surgery at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, he moved on to the University of California, Davis, and is in his third year of an integrated interventional radiology residency, where he is able to participate in and help others on their cancer journeys.
Miles from home and following his cancer experience, Dr. Brock still sees reminders of the challenge he overcame. As part of his MSK rotation, he and his cohort train in bone imaging. During one of his tumor boards, he sat next to Lor Randall, MD, the surgeon who removed his cancerous tumor. Dr. Randall is chair of orthopaedic surgery at UC Davis.
“When I found out I was coming to UC Davis, I reached out to him on Twitter,” he said. “I said, ‘Hey, you probably don’t remember me, but I just want to let you know I went through med school and I’m actually coming to UC Davis for the IR program.’ He was excited and it was nice to catch up with him. It’s kind of serendipity that we ended up at the same place.”
